Socio-Economic Dimension of the European Convention on Human Rights

The main focus of this book is on the work of the European Court on Human Rights (the Court, ECtHR), namely on judgments by which the Court reads into the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention, ECHR) rights with significant socio-economic elements already guaranteed under the European Social Charter (the Charter, ECS) and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ECPT). Reading in such rights into the Convention raises numerous problems, from practical ones concerning the implementation of judgments and the increase of the Court’s workload, to the problem of the Court’s inconsistency and finally to this being a threat to the Court’s legitimacy. It will be argued that, despite the Court’s wide powers when interpreting the Convention rights, there are rights already guaranteed under different Council of Europe (CoE) instruments and the Court should not extend the scope of the Convention into these areas, nor does it have the legitimacy to do so